Monthly Archives: November 2002

Deacon, I think there is a close relationship between the two stories you’ve just posted on. It seems to me that, viewing the war in a broad context, the Administration is guided by two basic principles: first, we cannot make war on the entire Arab world, let alone the entire Muslim world, simultaneously. If the war becomes Us vs. the Muslims (or the Arabs) it will be immeasurably harder to »

Here, courtesy of FrontPage Magazine, is a story from World Tribune.com about how the Saudis are still sending tens of millions of dollars to Al Qaeda. According to this article, the CIA has tracked the flow of funds from 12 Saudi businessmen into Al Qaeda and has provided the names to the Saudi government. However, the Kingdom took no action. »

The Washington Post seems to take pleasure in reporting that “President Bush finds himself in a rare disagreement with conservatives in his party over his efforts to portray Islam as a peaceful religion that is not responsible for anti-American terrorism.” Perhaps we can find a middle ground here. President Bush may have had good reason to make conciliatory statements about Islam in the past. But it seems to me he »

I did not know until moments ago that Mark Steyn has a website: Steyn Online. Steyn has to be the world’s most prolific, and funniest, political commentator. (Minnesota’s Unfunny Humorist should take a lesson from him.) Check out Steyn Online. »

I spent some time this morning cruising my usual news sources, but it’s a pretty slow day. So rather than post on anything in particular, I want to recommend that you read Tim Blair. Tim is one of the best of the bloggers and is one of the leaders of the good fight in Australia. Check him out; he begins today by deconstructing the ravings of an Australian lefty. Funny »

The Weekly Standard out this morning has a fascinating report by Stephen Hayes from the front lines of the Landrieu-Terrell race: “The Battle of New Orleans.” The article contains a couple extremely harsh quotes from Terrell and her campaign attacking Landrieu. Hayes asks Terrell about each one, and she sounds remarkably reasonable and undefensive. With respect to the publicized remark she made, in the course of a televised debate, about »

Who the heck is Amir Taheri? All I can tell you is that he is the author of one brilliant column in today’s National Post: “France must choose sides.” (Another one we would have missed but for our friends at RealClearPolitics.) »

The Jerusalem Post’s editorial reflection on Thursday’s attacks is a model of civilized deliberation: “Two attacks on freedom.” (Courtesy of our friends at RealClearPolitics.) It would be piling on to ask you to compare and contrast it with the Star Tribune editorial on Tyesha Edwards’ murder, but that is your assignment for today. »

Mark Steyn’s most recent National Post column coincided with Thanksgiving and we somehow missed it. But we wanted to see what he had to say about Morongate, and he didn’t let us down: “All the Liberals have to offer are loose lips.” Need I say that it is outstanding? (Thanks to the chairman of the Claremont Institute for the tip.) »

Soul music fans of my age are familiar with Johnnie Taylor (not to be confused with Little Johnny Taylor), “the philosopher of soul.” He was the artist who sang 1968′s chart-topping rhythm-and-blues smash “Who’s Making Love.” But far and away his biggest success was 1976′s across-the-board number one “Disco Lady,” the first single ever certified platinum (which at the time meant sales of over two-million copies). (Thanks to the All »

Rocket Man, those of our readers who do not actually read the Star Tribune editorial you write about can have no idea how much pain you endured on their behalf. For myself, I thank you for withstanding the pain necessary both to read and to make sense of what the editorial is saying. I can’t get much beyond the editorial’s self-parody of liberal nostrums; you make much more sense of »

Many of you have read the Trunk’s brilliant column on the recent murder of an 11-year-old girl by Minneapolis gangsters, “The Silence of the Liberals.” Tomorrow morning, the Minneapolis Star Tribune weighs in with an editorial on the same topic. The editorial starts relatively well, but predictably veers leftward. In the Strib’s view, the gangsters are apparently the real victims: “But what next? How to prevent some of Tyesha’s classmates »

I am delighted to find a column that expresses my own total disdain for the United Nations, not in some crackpot publication, but in the New York Post, an organ that is within shouting distance of the mainstream press. Andrea Peyser’s column “How Dare the UN Ask Us For Money” is terrific. Great quote: “Next month, the 191-nation General Assembly, which held ‘debates’ – their word – on terror after »

I think Fox tilts conservative even in its regular news shows. I don’t watch enough news on the liberal networks provide a fully informed comparison between the Fox tilt and that of those networks. My sense is that the “tilt quotient” is about the same, but that the other networks put on a veneer of fake objectivity that Fox is less inclined to bother with. Referring back to Rocket Man’s »

I think Fox is balanced, but then I’m a conservative. The main people at Fox are conservatives–Brit Hume, Tony Snow, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly (admittedly, more a populist than a conservative). I think Fox tilts subtly to the right, much as CBS tilts to the left due to the fact that pretty much everyone there is a liberal. »